Evelyn Nicinski ’ 15 was a bit blue when an ACL injury ended her Bucknell soccer career during an away game with Stetson
University last September — just when she thought she could build
on an outstanding junior season. But the self-described “spontaneous
and adventurous person” decided to make the proverbial lemons
out of lemonade.

“As devastating as [the injury was], oddly enough I think it’s oneof the reasons I’m playing professionally now,” says Nicinski, viaemail from Berlin, where she is a defensive midfielder for FC Lübarsin Frauen-Bundesliga, the German women’s pro league. “Havingthe ability to play stripped away from me made me realize justhow much I truly love the sport and how I didn’t want to give it upquite yet.”Though she grew up in the New York City suburbs, Nicinski hasdual citizenship from Poland, because her parents are natives ofthat nation. Since 2009, she has played for age-group Polish nationalteams. She was more recently a defender for the Polish nationalteam, which lost in the regional qualifying round for the 2015World Cup.

This fall, the team starts qualifiers for the 2017 Euro Championship,
so she will split time between the Polish national team and her
professional club in Germany.

When she was little, Nicinski says, her heroes were the 1999 U.S.
women’s World Cup champions.

“This group of women was able to not only inspire little girls
— including me — but also an entire nation, and I think that’s pretty
incredible,” she says. “Because of them, I have always worked my
hardest to be the best I can be, both on and off the field.” She found
this summer’s World Cup winners to be equally motivating.

“It was their goal to inspire a nation, just like the 1999 team,”Nicinski says. “They achieved that, as evidenced by how many peoplewatched this World Cup and rooted for Team USA through the final.”Nicinski, who graduated cum laude with a major in globalmanagement, says she came to Bucknell because it combinedgood athletics and academics. After attending a summer camp oncampus, she decided it was the place for her, and she played mostlyoffensive midfield, leading the team in goals and points and makingthird-team all-Mid-Atlantic her junior year in 2013.

Nicinski says her real inspirations, though, have been her parents,
who emigrated from Poland in the 1980s, just before she was born.

“As cliché as it may be, I can easily say they are my greatest rolemodels,” she says. “They gave up their lives in Poland to move to theStates to try to create a better life with greater opportunities for mybrother and me. To sacrifice everything they had to make sure I lived

— Robert Strauss

Gulati has a personal stake in keeping soccer safe.

His son, Emilio, is a 17-year-old fanatical player, as
is daughter Sofia, 10. (His wife, Marcela, grew up in
Mexico — he met her when he was headed to Acapulco
for the 1995 Mexican League draft.) He aspires to be a
model sports dad.

“I am pretty passive, so I will go to games and will
enjoy or suffer, whether they are doing well or not,” says
Gulati. “I am not someone who is screaming at games
or getting too emotional about it.

“There is enough stress from the rest of my socceractivities, so I just go and watch my kids play,” he says.He also is realistic about their abilities: “They are betterthan their genes allow them to be. They love playing,and I loved playing, but I was not a great soccer player.They are good, but they are not going to be professionalsoccer players.”Gulati says if he were told he had to pick betweenteaching and soccer, he couldn’t do it. Luckily, he doesnot have to choose. He gave Bucknell’s Commencementaddress in 2013, and his advice for students then iswhat he would tell anyone, from world leaders to hisown kids.

“If you find over the next five, 10, 20 years thatFridays are joyous because the work week is over, andthat’s the case every week, it might not be the right job,regardless of the paycheck that comes every other weekor the bonus that comes at the end of the year,” Gulatitold the 2013 graduates. “For me, Mondays are joyous.Septembers are not when my kids go off to school; it’swhen I return to school. Fridays aren’t the end of aworkweek; they are the end of a joyous period.”Gulati views the American soccer world he overseeswith a countless array of Mondays on the horizon.There will be someone, he hopes, maybe many someoneswho can do for soccer what Michael Jordan did forbasketball — elevate the game and bring it prestige.

“It will not be tomorrow. I know that,” he says. “But
I am determined that 10, 20 years from now, we will
get there.”

Robert Strauss is a freelance writer who writes regularly for
The New York Times. He is the author of Daddy’s Little
Goalie, a funny, sentimental memoir about being the dad of
girl athletes.

Sunil Gulati ’81 spoke on campus Oct. 15 for the Walling
Lecture Series. Go to the Bucknell Magazine app to hear
his talk.